LOUDONVILLE, OH—A Maple Heights man was hospitalized early Sunday after he crashed his pickup truck into an elementary school following a high-speed chase with state troopers.
The incident began about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, when the state highway patrol received a call about an erratic driver on Interstate 71 northbound, a news release from the Mansfield post of the highway patrol says. A trooper attempted to pull over the 25-year-old Maple Heights man.
The man briefly pulled his 2011 Dodge Ram truck toward the right berm of the freeway, but when the trooper began approaching the truck, the man sped away, the news release says. The pickup truck got off of I-71 north and sped along U.S. Route 30 and Ohio Route 60 before driving into Loudonville, a small village just outside of Mohican State Park in Ashland County.
Once in Loudonville, the Maple Heights man “failed to maintain control” of his pickup truck and struck McMullen Elementary School, the new release states. First responders treated the driver at the scene before he was taken to Mansfield Ohio Health Medical Center for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.
Charges are pending against the driver, state troopers say. Authorities believe the Maple Heights man was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash, and alcohol may have been a factor in the chase and subsequent crash.
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